<p>In his will, my late father directed that his property be sold, and that these assets be put into a trust. This trust will make periodic disbursements to his children (myself being one of them), until they come of age, at which point the remaining assets will be disbursed to the children. </p>
<p>My mother hasn't saved a lot, so I'll need a good portion of the inheritance to help my mother out when she retires (she and my father were divorced). I'd rather not spend it on paying for my schooling. I'd prefer to take out federal loans (and get whatever scholarships and grants I can of course).</p>
<p>My question is: How will this effect my financial aid? I'm planning on applying to grad school for the fall 2011 term. By that point, if I follow the disbursement schedule, my entire portion of the trust will have been disbursed to me. Do schools look at disbursements (which do not count as income) in determining the aid package? Once disbursed, the money would either be in my bank account, or I would invest it. Would financial aid look at this cash and/or investments? Do I need to report them? </p>
<p>Conversely, I may be able to delay the disbursement of the trust until I'm most of the way through grad school. Would the school look at this? Do I have to report it to the school?</p>
<p>I’m not sure about the trust itself or the actual disbursement payments themselves - but if the entire portion of the trust is disbursed to you by fall 2011 and is sitting in a bank account in your name by the time you have to file the FAFSA, then yes, you will have to report it. There is a question on the FAFSA that asks you what the combination of the money in all your checking and savings accounts totals. Similarly, if you have invested it, you’ll have to report it if it’s one of those reportable investments they ask you about (real estate other than your primary house and that kind of stuff).</p>
<p>However, you’re going to graduate school. The amount of money you have on hand won’t affect your financial aid award very much anyway, because your EFC means virtually nothing in graduate school financial aid anyway. Assuming that you’re going for a master’s degree or a professional degree (medical, law, dental, the like) there are very few scholarships for those students and most of them are institutionally awarded and aren’t based on need anyway. There are virtually no grants for graduate students - sometimes states have small grants (like New York has one that I think is available to graduate students), but they are usually $1,000 or less. And all graduate students are eligible for up to $20,500 in federal Stafford loans per year regardless of income, although whether any of that is subsidized and how much of it is depends on your income. If you’re going to a doctoral program, hopefully you’re getting fully funded anyway; I wouldn’t recommend paying out of pocket for a doctorate.</p>
<p>But as far as I know - the vast majority of graduate school, for most people, is financed by a combination of federal Stafford loans and private loans - with the exception of doctoral programs, which SHOULD be funded by the school and/or external fellowships.</p>
<p>There’s probably no getting around having the money count. Schools look at bank accounts and investments and they also look at assets which a trust falls under no matter whe you get the money.</p>
<p>You would probably still be able to get unsubsidized loans.</p>
<p>Yes you are required to report the trust as an asset when you file FAFSA and the income as income. Any money from the disbursements that is sitting in the bank or other investmetns will have to be reported as an asset.</p>
<p>We have family experience with a trust. Swimcats posted the info…but here it is…again. IF anyone in your family is a beneficiary of a trust, they are REQUIRED to list their share of the value of the trust whether or not they have access to it or not. That is the requirement. SO if your “share” of the trust is $250,000, you MUST list that whether you are getting it this year, next year or NEVER. If you are a trust beneficiary, it’s your trust VALUE that counts, not whether or not you have “access” to the funds.</p>
<p>Also, it’s nice that you would like to have this asset for future expenses, but that also doesn’t matter. <em>I</em> would like to have my savings for my future but the financial aid calculations consider them as an asset.</p>
<p>You will have to list your value of the trust on the FAFSA and Profile forms. AND if your parents are beneficiaries, their values will also need to be listed.</p>
<p>I will also tell you, the lawyer drawing up the trust is unlikely to know anything about the implications for financial aid on the setting up of a trust. We experienced this first hand. Luckily for us, we were given the option of being part of a family trust. We DECLINED…as this would have added significant assets for generations to come. We were lucky to have been given this option. Many families set up trusts unilaterally and the beneficiaries just receive them…surprised that they MUST report them as a financial asset for college purposes.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I don’t believe this will help you a speck. It’s your VALUE of the trust that must be reported if you are a beneficiary, not whether or not you actually GET the money. The reason you post is exactly why. Folks with significant money in trust “could” gain access to them if the trust is disolved (most trusts are written with a clause to disolve under certain conditions) or by delaying the disbursement of the funds. This is not how the formulas for need based financial aid work.</p>
<p>I say…consider yourself fortunate that you are actually GETTING a disbursement that will help you with college costs. Many trusts are things like family summer homes and the trustees must list the value but they don’t get a nickel…ever.</p>
<p>I assume you are in the senior year of Undergraduate and COA for 2010-11 has already been taken care off?. Financial aid for grad students is totally different then undergraduate. A lot depends on the major, college, availability of assistantships etc. which are not need based. Are you going in for a professional degree such as law.</p>
<p>Also depending on your age, you can take the money and put it in a trust for your mother, or create a fund for your mother etc. You may need to consult a specialist in trusts to help you with the planning but I think as a grad student you have totally different set of issues. If you are looking for options for this year, you may need to provide the EFC and COA for anyone to help you.</p>
<p>You may need to apply to grad schools that will give you money for your stats (no consideration of need).</p>
<p>What is your major?</p>
<p>Where will you be applying.</p>
<p>There isn’t much FA (free money) for grad students that is based on need anyway. Funding grad school education is very different than undergrad.</p>
<p>Good catch…I missed the “grad school” part.</p>
<p>Grad school financial aid is NOT predicated on need. It is primarily merit based and is awarded as fellowships, assistantships, scholarships, grants, tuition remissions, sometimes work study and loans. There really isn’t “need based” aid in grad school and schools don’t guarantee to meet a %age of need like in undergrad.</p>
<p>SO for grad school…this OP will still need to list THEIR value of the trust on the FAFSA and Profile forms (whatever is required)…and their contribution to college will reflect that number. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t really make a difference for GRAD SCHOOL…where need based aid is not awarded in the same way as for undergrad.</p>
<p>i have a question about financail aid. my school is paying for me to live off campus, and its an hour away from my hometown. i’m engaged, and i want my fiance to move with me. can he live with me even though i’m living off financial aid? he is not a student.</p>
<p>dutchipoo…I replied on the thread you started that is related to YOUR question. That is the best way to get responses (since your question has absolutely nothing to do with the topic of THIS thread).</p>
<p>Wow. Thanks for the replies everyone! Truthfully, I only expected one or two responses. I’m glad my expectations were exceeded!</p>
<p>To answer some of your questions (in no particular order): </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Yup, I am planning on going for grad school, not undergrad. </p></li>
<li><p>Undergrad was funded through a combination of my savings (I’ve worked since I was 15 and through most of undergrad), some bonds, federal loans, private loans, scholarships (need and merit), and grants. I currently have $30k in dept from undergrad. </p></li>
<li><p>I’m currently 23. </p></li>
<li><p>I don’t have a specific major chosen (I’m thinking about a few). It will not be Law, Medicine, or Engineering. It will also not be a major in the humanities. Something straddling the lines of human/computer interaction, design, and business is most likely. </p></li>
<li><p>I plan on going for a Masters, not a Doctorate.</p></li>
<li><p>My undergrad is in Design (BFA, not BS). I plan on going back to school because I’m not terribly happy with the career track that my undergrad has opened up to me. Since graduation in '09 I have worked two jobs (the first one let me go after six months because their finances were hit). </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Some additional questions:</p>
<p>1) Since Grad School aid isn’t linked to “financial need” like undergrad, do some schools offer scholarships for students that did well in undergrad? I ask this because I graduated with a 3.9 GPA, as well as an Undergraduate Scholar Award (about 2% of the graduating class receives this).</p>
<p>2) What are some good websites that could fill me in on funding grad school, especially on a field-by-field basis?</p>
<p>Fellowships and the like for grad school are awarded by the schools themselves, and particularly by the departments. If you are a grad student in history, the grad fellowships and assistantships would be awarded to you based on the history department’s recommendation.</p>
<p>I received a fellowship for grad school. It was based on my departments desire to have me in their department, specific skills I had (I was able to supervise in my field and teach some specific undergrad courses as well), and a review of my undergrad work and my recommendations. </p>
<p>If you are looking for grad fellowships, you might want to contact the department chairs at the schools, discuss your interest in applying to their program, and ask if there are any fellowships/assistantships available and how you would go about applying for them.</p>
<p>Grad school application and grad school admission and aid is usually department specific. So the Architecture department may have some funding to help grad students but the fine arts department may not have it, even though they may both be in the same school. Each department may have their own selection committee, not an campus wide selection like you have for most undergraduate programs. </p>
<p>You have to </p>
<ol>
<li> Narrow your field down to what you want to do.</li>
<li>Research the schools you are interested in. For graduate studies you can in fact talk to the graduate adviser at the schools you are interested in. What are the options they offer, what type of classes, what are faculty interests, what is their placement record, how do students finance the education etc? Call the school and ask to talk to the graduate adviser in the department you are interested in.</li>
<li> Then shortlist a set of schools and apply. Graduate application is different from undergraduate. When you talk to the schools you will get a feel for what they are looking for.</li>
<li>Very few of the top schools will give assistantships and aid for a MBA or similar business program. They expect that your earning potential will compensate for any loans. Lesser ranked programs might. </li>
<li>Design is a large field, you need to be clear what design you are talking about as the the opportunities will vary. Are you talking about graphic design, interior design, industrial design etc? At the graduate level, you have to be able to pick an area.</li>
</ol>